Many service providers are concerned about the financial and/or environmental implications of their electrical power consumption. One of the primary sources of many service providers' electrical power consumption is routers. Routers are often used by service providers to facilitate and/or direct the flow of network traffic within their networks.
Conventional routers may include various components that consume electrical power. For example, a conventional router may include one or more Field Replaceable Units (FRUs), Physical Interface Cards (PICs), and/or Flexible PIC Concentrators (FPCs) that enable the router to facilitate and/or direct network traffic within a service provider's network. In this example, the FRUs, PICs, and/or FPCs may consume electrical power even when they are not necessarily being used by the conventional router to facilitate and/or direct network traffic. As a result, these conventional routers may potentially lead to high energy costs and/or negative environmental impact.
The instant disclosure, therefore, identifies and addresses a need for apparatuses, systems, and methods for improving the energy efficiency of routers.